Category: Hebrews

  • Baseball – an analogy for the Christian faith walk

    Kids playing baseball - sliding is "safe"

    Back in the day, I used to coach baseball for kids. The kids were a lot of fun. The parents were a mixed blessing. Some years, the parents were a lot of fun. Other years, it seemed they were personal friends of the devil himself. Some parents were very supportive, and others couldn’t be pleased no matter what you did.

    Balancing the win-at-all-costs group with the let’s have fun group was always a challenge. Some parents were thrilled if their kids got to play at all. Others complained even if their kids played every inning because they felt their child would have been better utilized in another position. 

    When I coached the house league (baseballcommunity level, fun ball), I always worked hard to ensure the entire team got equal playing time wherever possible. When it was AA rep ball, you got playing time based on your abilities, although everyone saw at least some time in the field.

    The kids were always a mixed bag. Some had experience, and others had never thrown a ball before. Some were there because they wanted to play, and others were there because their parents thought it was “good for them” to be in sports or simply because the parents wanted a couple of hours of babysitting.

    There was a great deal of pleasure in seeing a child go from being afraid of the ball to being able to catch it and hit it. They were thrilled if a kid got a hit and was safely on base. At the younger ages, if they managed to work around the bases and get safely home, it was as good as a home run.

    As the kids got older, the occasional home run became a reality, and in some age groups, it became a regular thing. It was funny to watch them run the bases after a home run. Some ran the bases as fast as they could, others savored their moment a little more and ran slowly as they showed off the results of their hitting prowess.

    Baseball is a strange game. If you knock the ball out of the park, it’s a home run. No one can put the batter out, and the run is awarded. The run isn’t in doubt, but the batter must still do their run around the bases. A home run isn’t a shortcut; they must still run and touch all the bases.

    A home run is a good analogy for our Christian faith walk. All believers are, by God’s grace, home run hitters. Once we’ve accepted Jesus, we’re saved and have our gate pass to be with Jesus. Yet we’re not instantly taken into heaven. He still has things for us to do, and we still have to persevere. We still have bases to run.

    The Scriptures emphasize both our victory and our need to persevere.

    Once we have Jesus, we have overcome the world.

    Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:1-5 NIV

    We’ve won, but we still have to finish the game.

    Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” Hebrews 10:35-38 NIV

    The next time life throws you a curve ball, hang in there. 

    With Jesus, it’s going to be a home run.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

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  • The World Changed on Reformation Day

    Happy Reformation Day. 

    On this day, five hundred and seven years ago, one of the most transformational events in history occurred. A then obscure, devout Roman Catholic monk, Martin Luther, Attached what would come to be known as the “Ninety-Five Theses” to the door of the Wittenberg Church in Germany.

    At that time, the Roman Catholic church was in the practice of selling indulgences.

    The church believed that a believer ascended into heaven only after an appropriate amount of time was spent in Purgatory, facing cleansing and punishment for sin. To reduce this suffering, the church sold indulgences, reducing the time spent there. A living person could also purchase reduced time or skip Purgatory through a guaranteed mass performed at their future funeral.

    These indulgences were a huge money-raiser for the church, and Luther was concerned that such practices did not match up with what the Scriptures taught. He compiled a list of 95 theological issues for debate and attached them to the church’s door. That was the equivalent of posting the challenge on social media today.

    This act would eventually lead to him being declared a heretic, sentenced to death, and eventually to the formation of the “Lutheran” church. The Reformation was underway.

    Around the same time, other believers also questioned various doctrines taught by the church, and a move was made to reform the church’s teachings. Not all 

    The Reformers did not agree on every issue; in fact, there was great diversity and even animosity between them.

    This clumsy, diverse movement led to the establishment of what would be called the protesting or Protestant Church in all of its diversity. Although numerous “pre-reformers” were working to recover the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the work of Jesus Christ, this October date is generally considered the start of the Reformation.

    Many of the reformers were martyred  or spent their lives hiding as “heretics.”

    Why should we care?

    As Protestants, we trace our lineage not to the reformers but to the teachings of Christ himself. The true doctrine of “by faith alone” was recovered by not invented by the reformers. It was always foundational to the bible but has become lost in church bureaucracy and tradition. Still, these men and women paid a high price for the truth. Their sacrifice is worth remembering.

    The truth is, as the Scriptures declare,

    But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5

    For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20

    Are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ. Jesus Romans 3:24

    Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrew 11:1

    For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God   Ephesians 2:8

    Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Psalm 3:8

    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6

    We don’t merit redemption. We can’t earn it, and we can’t buy it. It is a gift of love and mercy. 

    Praise God for the salvation he freely offers.

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word

    Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

    Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)

    Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.

    Halloween and Reformation Day
    Read the Word. Read the Word. Read the Word.